Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

115 reviews

kurumipanda's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The gore and viscera of this novella sheaths a love that is tender in that it is beautiful, and tender in that it is raw to touch.

the narrator growing to look more human in the epilogue harkens back to the miss the reference of the falsehood earlier on about a mermaid's ability to become human if they love a prince deeply enough. The plague doctor's empathy becomes the narrator's upon their eviceration and subsequent death. The space and tenderness the plague doctor holds for the children being mutilated by the surgeons who killed and revived them over and over again is transmuted in their death to make the desire to preserve life something tangible to the narrator.

I enjoyed the way readers were dropped into the story after the narrator had taken a sort of revenge, and is figuring out where to set herself in the world after, and I enjoy that some things are left unexplained.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

abookwormspov's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

blacksphinx's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

While being leagues above the other book I've read by Cassandra Khaw, Nothing But Blackened Teeth, it is still a mixed bag. 

It has some gruesome moments of gore and cruelty that earn it the label of horror. Nothing made me laugh or roll my eyes like the previous novella I read. And yet, I finished it not having the faintest idea what on earth a "mermaid" was in this universe. Perhaps it would have been better less as a standalone and more as a novella in a story collection taking place in the same universe?

The romance also took me by surprise in a bad way, considering how much I winced listening to one half of the couple muse about the other's gender.

The things I liked and the things I didn't balance the scales of my opinion. This will almost certainly be the last thing I read by this author.

Also, really didn't like the audiobook. It was the first time I've gotten completely lost and confused about who was speaking, which didn't help my experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

queenkath32's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

stardustdreamer's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

sharron_joy_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

The mermaid and the plague Doctor escape into the wilderness following the fall of an empire and her murdering her husband. Whilst travelling they meet a pack of feral children who kill each other for sport, they are pieced back together again by three saints. To save the children the mermaid faces her true terrifying nature and the plague Doctor confronts his past. 

This is the little mermaid/lord of the flies crossover that we all needed. Stunningly beautiful prose drenched in violence and gore. This mermaid has teeth, lots of them, she is powerful after captivity, vicious and brutal. Cassandra has the most beautiful way with words, they transport you into a fairytale dark as hell, her turn of phrase is salve for the soul, the language is sensual, exquisite and savagely macabre, loved it! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Torture, Violence, and Medical content

silvae's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse

xangemtheelibrarian's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Okay okay okay. If you want to read: 

1. about a mermaid who is true to actual myths and not Hans Christian Anderson or Disney, AND is a badass character with sharp teeth

2. A beautiful, somewhat immortal Frankenstein-Monster-Plague Doctor 

3. A trio of Doctor Frankensteins with absolutely no morality to speak of, only the thrill of chasing immortality

4. A novella that is short, sweet, and will kick you right the feels and then kick you again while you're down, only to reach out and help you up once it's done hurting you

5. A lot of body horror. Blood. Guts. Disemboweled intestines draping over the snow, eyeballs being popped out in great detail, viscera and vomit. 

This book is for YOU. DO IT. PICK IT UP RIGHT NOW. IT'S BEAUTIFUL. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail